Spilling the Beans and the Ice Cream
by SistaSouljah
Summary: Response to Snickers group challenge. NS.


Spilling the Beans...and the Ice Cream

~*~*~*~*~

Disclaimer: If it's familiar to you, it doesn't belong to me.

A/N: Well, here's a short ficlet in response to the Snickers Yahoo group challenge.  I cranked it out pretty quickly, but hopefully it's good enough to help with the N/S withdrawal!

~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, have you guys seen Nick?" Catherine asked as she walked into the break room.  "He was supposed to be here an hour ago.  We have our big court date next week and we were gonna review the case before shift.  If he slept in again, I swear I'm gonna-"

"He's in Orlando," Sara answered distractedly, her mind focused on the interesting journal article she was reading.

"What's in Orlando?" Warrick asked, handing the cup of coffee he had just poured to Catherine.

"Seminar.  National Center for Forensic Science."

"He better be back by this weekend.  We're supposed to watch the game on his big screen," Warrick said.

"Friday," Sara said as she flipped through the journal.  "His flight comes in at-" Sara stopped mid-sentence when she looked up and noticed Catherine and Warrick were giving her strange looks.  "What?"

"Didn't he just get back from Cleveland or something, like two weeks ago?" Warrick realized.

"Cincinnati," Sara answered, getting more looks from Catherine and Warrick.

"What are you, his travel agent?" Warrick joked.

"Uh…"

"So what's the deal?" Warrick continued.  "I mean, he's never around.  It's like he doesn't even work here anymore."

Sara hesitated to answer, for fear of more strange looks, but went ahead anyway.  She didn't want them to think Nick was a slacker when he was actually the exact opposite.  "Um, the sheriff's still in limbo on the promotion, and Nick thinks that if he attends as many conventions and seminars as possible, it'll prove how dedicated he is to his job and show how he's willing to push himself to keep learning and improving."

"Are you his shrink too?" Catherine gave Sara a look.

"Sorry I'm late," Grissom apologized as he walked in, preventing Sara from having to answer.  "Cath, Warrick, 419 at Kwikstop Mini-Mart."  He looked at his team and realized he was one CSI short.  "Where's Nick?"

"Why don't you ask Sara?" Catherine quipped.

"Where's Nick?" Grissom turned to Sara, not picking up on Catherine's sarcastic tone, oblivious to the fact that she was joking.

"Uh, Orlando," Sara answered.

"Oh right, that NCFS seminar," Grissom remembered.  "Then I guess you get to work solo tonight.  406 at the new reptile house at MGM."

"What, like a stolen rattlesnake?" Sara joked.

"Iguana," Grissom said as he handed her the assignment slip.  "I'll be in my office all night.  Paperwork."  And as quickly as he had come, he was gone.

"I'll trade you?" Sara turned to Catherine and Warrick, in what she knew was a futile attempt to try and work the more exciting case.

"Tempting, but no," Catherine said as she headed out.

"Have fun girl," Warrick smiled as he followed Catherine.

"Thanks," Sara grumbled.  What did she know about iguanas?

~*~

"Wow.  If this is how you say welcome back, maybe I should leave more often," Nick joked, staring up at the ceiling, still trying to catch his breath.

"Maybe you should," Sara teased as she lay in bed next to him, lazily tracing her finger along the outlines of Nick's well-delineated abs.

"Well, there is this seminar in L.A. in a couple weeks…"

"Yeah, uh, about that." Sara dropped her playful tone.

"About what?"

"I think I almost spilled the beans the other day."

"Almost?"

"Catherine and Warrick asked where you were and why you've been gone so much lately, and when I told them they gave me these weird looks, like I knew way too much."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing.  Grissom interrupted us."

"What would you have said?"

"I don't know," she looked up at him.

They lay there in silence for a minute, both thinking the same thing, but neither one wanting to say it out loud.

"Should we just tell them?" Sara finally blurted out.

"Do you want to?"

"Do you?"

"I asked you first," Nick smiled.

"I guess so.  We're going to have to eventually," she replied, sounding a little unsure.  She returned her attention to Nick's abs.  They had officially been 'together' for almost two months.  When they decided to keep their relationship a secret, they never thought about when or how they would break the news to their coworkers.  Now that Sara realized they couldn't put it off forever, she was starting to get nervous.  What would they all think?  What would Grissom think?  Would he treat them differently?  Would he still let them work together?

"Hey." Nick reached for her chin and tilted her head up, forcing her to look at him.  "If you don't want to, we can wait.  Whenever you're ready."  He gave her a gentle kiss.

"No, I want to, it's just-"

"What?"

"I don't know…"

"Embarrassed of me?" Nick teased, getting a smile out of Sara.

"What do you think they'll say? When we tell them?"

"I don't know, I'm sure they'll be happy for us."

"Okay." Sara was satisfied with his answer.  She knew she was probably worrying over nothing.  Besides, it shouldn't matter what anyone else thought.  The important thing was that she and Nick were happy.

"Well maybe not Greg, at least not at first, but I'm sure he'll get over it," Nick added, pulling Sara towards him as he planted kisses along her collarbone, his lips traveling up her neck.

"Well he's gonna have to, because I don't plan on going anywhere," she smiled.

"That's good to know," was the last thing Nick said before his mouth met hers, his skillful tongue causing Sara to quickly forget any lingering worries.

~*~

Sara walked into the break room and saw Greg sitting at the table with a heaping bowl of something; she couldn't tell what it was.

"What is that?" she asked as she headed straight for the coffee machine.

"My favorite.  Vanilla ice cream drowned in hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles.  It's from Glen and Larry's, that gourmet ice cream place next to Hard Rock Cafe."

"Why is it that pukey green color?" she scrunched up her nose.

"It's chartreuse."

"Okay, so why is it chartreuse?"

"You know how they make vanilla in different colors?"

"No."

"Well they do.  They had blue for a while.  Now it's chartreuse."  He shoveled a giant spoonful into his mouth and swallowed in one big gulp.  "Ow, brain freeze," he rubbed his temples.

"What's with the funky green ice cream?" Nick asked as he walked in.

"Chartreuse," Sara said.

"Char what?"

"Chartreuse," Sara repeated.

"What's that?"

"It's a color."

"Oooooh, I get it now."  Something finally hit Nick.  "Is that why that green Brazilian parrot is called the Chartreuse River Parrot?  I thought Chartreuse was the name of a river."

Sara rolled her eyes.

"Evening all," Catherine greeted as she walked in, with Warrick right behind her.  She noticed Greg's ice cream.  "Is that the new chartreuse vanilla?  Lindsey loves that.  She swears it tastes better than regular vanilla."

"Char what?" Warrick asked.

"See, I'm not the only one!" Nick gave Sara a look.

"Hey Nick, how was Orlando?" Warrick asked.

Before Nick could answer, Grissom walked through the door.  "Okay, people, busy night tonight," he said as he got right down to business.  "Nick, Sara, floater out at Lake Mead.  Cath, hit and run, North Vegas.  Warrick, you're with me, 419 at the Forum Shops.  I need to talk to Doc Robbins first, I'll meet you outside," he told Warrick as he quickly left.

"Guess I'll have to save the rest for later." Greg got up to put his half eaten bowl if ice cream in the freezer, but suddenly froze in his tracks as he watched Nick approach Sara.

"Hey," Nick said to Sara as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on her neck.  "Can we stop for ice cream before we drive out to the lake?  Greg made me hungry."

"Uh…" she was speechless as she noticed three sets of wide eyes staring at them.  "Nick?" she finally managed.

Nick finally realized what he was doing and quickly let go of Sara.  He noticed the shocked looks of his three coworkers and realized there was no way out.  Him having a mental relapse wasn't exactly how they planned on telling everyone, but it was too late now.  "Uh, Sara and I are dating."

The break room was silent, everyone still trying to process what had just happened, Nick and Sara included.  The silence was broken by Greg, and the four CSIs turned to see him standing with his mouth hanging open and his styrofoam bowl overturned on the break room floor, chartreuse ice cream oozing out onto the white linoleum.

Catherine turned back to Nick and Sara.  "You're dating."  It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah," Nick replied.

"Since when?"  Warrick asked.

"Wait, let me guess," Catherine said before Nick or Sara could answer.  "Two months ago?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"Please, give me some credit.  I'm not blind," she said.  "All I can say is, _finally_."  She smiled at the two as she turned and left.

"Finally?" Nick looked at Warrick.

"Yeah.  It's about damn time," Warrick said as he too walked out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick looked at Sara.

"I don't know," she answered as she glanced at Greg, who was still standing in shocked silence.  She gave Nick a quick kiss.  "I'll meet you outside, okay?"

"Yeah."

"You okay Greg?" Sara asked as soon as Nick was gone.

"Uh, yeah," he replied, snapping out of his daze.  He bent down to pick up his ice cream, scooping what he could back into the bowl.  "I hope you're happy," he said as he stood up.  "You crushed my dreams and made me drop my favorite ice cream.  Shift just started and it already sucks."

Sara knew he was trying to be funny to mask his disappointment, and she felt bad about it.  "Don't worry, you'll always be my favorite lab tech," she smiled as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

She left Greg standing in shock yet again as she turned to leave, and the last think she heard before she walked out the door was the splat of ice cream hitting the floor.

~~The End~~


End file.
